I used to be into historical reenacting, and the attention to detail bit really hit home. Like, folks walk up to you to retie your neckerchief or emphasize a hand-stitched shirt -- which is literally hidden under two other layers. If someone loves that kind of detail because it makes them happy, awesome! When folks get snobby about it (especially in cases of public presentation, when 99% of your audience doesn't know, notice, or care), yeah, that's problem.
I also used to do reenactment and my shoes were from a period about fifty years after the era I was doing. Did I care? No. Did anyone notice? Doubtful. Did they look right? Pretty much, yes - and that's what mattered to me!
I think the difficult thing about always dressing for the dress code is that you don't get to wear the garments you love 99% of the time. If we were dressing according to the spoken or unspoken dress code, we'd be in jeans and T-shirts all day, every day, save for a couple days of the year. I enjoy wearing white tie, so I always break it out for the opera and ballet. I enjoy wearing a suit, so I place it as my everyday style. However, when it comes to weddings and funerals, I agree that you need to have some consideration for the hosts. As a rule of thumb, I would consider whether a reasonable, sane person would be offended by me outdressing them at an event. There are going to be one or two events like that; otherwise, live and let live.
Also as to weddings: Just ask the bride - causes things like morning suit ensembles in a whole lot of navy-two-piece LDS members😂. Suits, oh I love wearing suits... I wear them to work every day... and I'm a bespoke shoemaker😅. I'd say always dress following *your* preferences - the jeans-and-t-shirt crowd sure does it - but dress accordingly with the preferences of the host if invited *if* there are specifics. Also: again, capital meeting you here!😉. Best regards Raoul G. Kunz
Most of the time there is no dress code. In an office, unless otherwise told, you can wear a suit. And you can wear white tie to the opera, but you would look out of place (sadly). You can change a few notch from the average, but not much. A fine balance, as was explained in the video. I wear a jacket, shirt, tie every day to the office (university), I'm nearly alone with that. But I would not change to black tie for a later lecture just because it is after 6pm. That would be too much. And I go to the gym in swetpants, wear heavy-duty trousers and trainers to a hike in the woods, etc.
@@adamkun5524 Changing into black tie for an evening lecture would be iconic though, if you came to my uni in black tie I would think you were very cool.
I mainly use a wheelchair outside of the house, and I’ve been told that I either NEED to ditch the jacket or never button it because “you never button your jacket when sitting”, this was an able bodied person giving me advice. An open jacket in a wheelchair is a major pain in the ass.
Yeah, don't listen to that guy. He likely didn't mean to be mean, he just doesn't know how uneasy it is in a wheel chair with an open jacket. Special situations deserve special rules.
@@lukastux3024 definitely no intention to be mean but this particular individual also runs a style channel and has a video and article on the topic in addition to my personal interaction. The article states that we should also never wear hats because you don’t wear a hat when seated, and that we should carry a cane/walking stick even if our disability prevents us from using said stick so that the wheelchair looks more like a choice. Now I don’t know if it was the owner or one of their staff who wrote the article but either way not a good look.
Disabled people are the ones who best know how to manage life with our conditions, whatever they may be! An ignorant comment is one thing but making a video telling a disabled group what to do when you evidently haven’t even consulted with them is on another level… I don’t use a wheelchair and my disabilities aren’t usually visible but even I’ve had trouble from people about my clothes. So while I can’t truly understand I empathise with you!
I'm pretty sure men in the past did not take their hats off when sitting on a bench on the park. That sitting rule is obviously about getting settled indoors!
As a sewist I am only concerned about details on my selfmade stuff because it's fun to take my time with them but other than that I don't care :D Love your approach to fashion!
I generally agree with you, especially the point about dress-codes (I would personally summarise it as "dress for what the dress code is, not what you feel it ought to be") and details. A lot of the "advise" you mention, to me, often comes from the right place, but the desire to make advise snippy, memorable and rhyme often strips the intention down to such a simple concept that it actually becomes somewhat useless. "No brown in town", for example: From a UK point of view, a more accurate and useful rendering of the rule probably ought to be "do not wear countrywear in urban areas with a notable financial sector or strong industrial heritage" - a brown suit in a smart worsted solid or pinstripe would be fine in Manchester, and tweed is perfectly acceptable in cities such as Oxford or Canterbury. I'd also add that the telling a stranger unsolicited that they are committing a fashion faux pas is itself an egregious breach of fashion etiquette. On the flip side, some other pieces of advice are probably very useful to those just starting out into the world of menswear, not so much to vintage enthusiasts and collectors - "do not fasten the bottom button of a single breasted suit jacket" is perhaps bad advise for certain vintage pieces, but excellent advice for someone buying a brand new suit; similarly I would still advise ones first suit be dark blue or dark grey, as it is likely that it will, if only for a time, be their only suit and thus be needed to be suitable a number of different occasions - dark blue and grey being the only colours that work for weddings, funerals, job interviews, business wear, and informal evening events. But I certainly wouldn't say ones first vintage suit, or vintage inspired suit, needs to be those colours (unless it is intended to be ones only suit). The ones relating to colour combinations, whilst often too broad and failing to factor in elements such as shade and tone, can be useful when one considers the prevalence of colour blindness in men. Feel free to break them, but be pretty sure you know it works before hand.
In terms of correcting someone's style details being a breach of etiquette, I totally agree. The same goes for other forms of correction. Good grammar is designed to be clear and educated; i.e., it's designed to help you coexist with society. Correcting others' grammar is the exact opposite of this point. The purpose of standard English is not to be a set of rules to beat others over the head with. (With that said, it's inevitable to find outselves silently cringing at our personal pet peeves - the silent bit is the important one.) The same goes for etiquette. Even in Victorian etiquette books, it is made clear that if there's a "cardinal sin" of etiquette, it's correcting others' manners in public. This is what many miss the point of; style rules, grammar rules, and etiquette are all designed to help us look, sound, and act our best. They are not a set of draconian rules designed to allow us to demonstrate our "intellectual superiority."
I'd be thrilled if we could get back to men and women to just being well groomed and stylishly dressed regardless of the occasion - day casual, work, dating, weddings, funerals, parties, Christmas, etc. And ban fast fashion and baseball caps. Quality over quantity, but pieces that don't break the bank. It really is possible.
Great video Nikolas! I used to not dress for the dress code in a lot of occasions such as casual summer family get togethers when everyone is wearing very casual clothes while I was wearing a vintage suit. This was a mistake when I started my classic menswear journey. I learned to adapt to the occasion and environment I was in, since I used to live in Norfolk, Va. But now that I’m back in Michigan, I still dress vintage, but it’s more casual clothes such as plaid cotton shirts and jeans/khaki pants from the 1950s. A lot that was inspired from my great grandfathers in the 1950s.
Fair play to you, friend, but I'm going to keep wearing my suits to informal get-togethers. Maybe not for barbecues or picnics, but my passion for style triumphs such things! Besides, if someone I know is snobby enough to look down on me for dressing how I enjoy, I don't want to be around them, anyway.
I once had a cashier in a second hand store telling me I shouldn't button the last button on my blazer. I just looked him dead in the eyes and said "okay" in a couldn't care less tone.
One of the best things about your channel is that you take the time to help not just with style and options, but to discourage the snobbery that is likely to pop up. Good for you, great work. Please keep doing what you do.
Agree. Although, I'm the ONLY one I know who's very demanding of the details because I make my own handcrafted bespoke suits and I love the ritual and the result but I never ask anyone else to want the same standards for their suits. It's my own accomplishment and artform and I live wearing my own handiwork but nobody else needs to feel the same about theirs because it's just a garment. Thanks for the perspective.
I had heard the old saw as "Red and Green should never be seen [together]" rather than blue, I don't know why as there are some fine fabrics that mix either or all of these colours. I think that somebody hated green, and loved rhyming couplets, so it stuck.
For my part, I insist on hand-finishing everything because I have SO much better control over what I'm doing, and because I like the aesthetics of the results, and also genuinely enjoy the act of hand-sewing vastly more than that of machine-sewing. Given my druthers, I'd hand-sew everything but running stitches. That being said, holding anybody else to that would just be silly.
I do prefer the aesthetics of hand finishing things, myself, like buttonholes, or preventing visible stitching (like top-stitching, which can often look cheap and lazy, imo--depending on what it is, of course).
Great video,good to have you back.I work in the City of London,the most conservative,rule strict environment in the business world and I wear brown shoes from my navy suits, colourful pocket squares etc...and guess what? As long as you dressed in clean clothes nobody will comment about what you wear.Keep up the good work
I'm glad someone finally made this video. I think with how the suit is dying in the office, we're entering a new era where suits can be free and not bound by societal rules. If you wore 17th century clothing in the 17th century you would no doubt have to follow all sorts of rules just like the ones we have today... but if you wear 17th century clothing today, you don't have to abide by any of them, you can make it your own! The only rules that should exist are ones that are good aesthetic principles. Throw out all the brown in town nonsense, it's an antiquated bit of elitist nonsense.
We do indeed live in a more democratic era of style! That's where I sort of disagree with Nikolas a bit. There are people like Zac Pinsent who wear 1700s tailcoats and bicorns every day and rock it. I don't think people who are really passionate about vintage menswear should be forced to fit in all the time just for conformity's sake. I believe that conformity should only exist when absolutely necessary, like in the military boot camp. I even feel iffy on weddings; although, I must admit, that's still a place where conformity is somewhat expected, and hence it might be offensive not to budge a bit. I've found that there's no real way to rationalize dress codes - if everyone just wore what they wanted all the time, then what's the harm? I think it more has to do with people being insecure about standing out and wanting to force that on everyone else. Or maybe it's just some caveman instinct. I don't know. Either way, I want to live to see the day where someone in sweatpants can be strolling next to someone in a frock coat, and neither of them seem odd.
Fantastic video. I get your point of view. I think that sometimes details are cool but I agree that this is not something that is so much important. Maybe your unpopular opinions are not such unpopular 😅
When I moved to New York 20 years ago, professional men wore navy suits and everyone in the arts wore black head to toe. Nowadays tech guys wear black T-shirts, hedge fund bros have replaced jacket and tie with Patagonia vests, and everyone in the arts wears athleisure. It doesn’t take much effort to be way ahead of the crowd.
Brava! I enjoy handsewing, but the fact is, very few people will notice, and even those who do, probably won't care. So yeah, the details are for me, not for the look.
For me menswear rules are more like suggestion for begginer, if you don't really know what you are doing it Can be reassuring to have rule to fall back to
My first bespoke was meh, I used it for my wedding and it worked but I wasn't happy. I rushed and went for a person local to home. Instead my second (I love the craft I can't help it) I went for the man and skill, I am so much happier. Most of my other suits are RTW, I am now using a M2M service now as I can't afford a full waldrobe of bespoke. Also the green and blue can work if you don't over do it.
Nice vid. It's good to hear pretentious gitishness being called out. A good chunk of my wardrobe is home made or tailored but that's cause I'm 5 foot tall. Not pretentious 😂
While I do find myself mostly wearing T-shirts and shorts or pants, any chance I get I wear my suit. I only have one suit at the moment: a double-breasted, medium-grey suit. I love it to pieces and I always feel so elegant when I wear it. I don't have many events I can wear it to, but I found times to wear it despite maybe looking overdressed. For example, providing sign language interpreting over video conferencing for a college class. I also wore my suit out to lunch once for Easter and I wore it at my family's Christmas eve gathering even though most people were dressed casually.
I agree with you. I'm a historical sewist. One of my favorite things is buying vintage mens suits to use as raw material. I have bought many great off the rack suits. I have also bought what I suspect were bespoke suits that were just kind of meh. It depends on the skill of the tailor. Bragging about buying a bespoke suit from a tailor that is only mediocre is ridiculous. Better to buy high quality OTR instead and then save up for a better skilled tailor.
i am in america and i will only use Gutermann thread, wish you had Gutermann as your sponsor, or maybe you could give us a tour of their factory, i like to make bespoke items for people, they could purchase ready to wear and most people would not know the difference... but I can tell the difference... from across the room... some people enjoy baking, or painting, or golf... i enjoy silk thread and hand sewn button holes.... and Vintageburshe 😘
Dress codes are to guide the less skilled and also reign in narcissism. Without any dress codes people are free to honestly signal with their choices, which could be seen as good, but the drawback is since culture is contagious, that is often how bad trends are spread
I agree and disagree with you, so I'll share my thoughts on the matter. Yes, style rules can and should be broken, I break them often. They are foundations on which a good outfit can be built, but only foundations are boring. I also agree with you on the matter of bespoke clothing. I own some bespoke shirts, and the difference between them and my made to measure shirts is practically nonexistent. Bespoke Tailoring is something I very much enjoy, but for well over 99% of situations, it is not needed. While agree with your reasoning behind your point on dress codes, being that one should dress in a manner that is appropriate to the people, especially the host, at any given function. However, while you say this is a reason to leave dress codes behind, I would say you perfectly describe how a dress code comes to be. Older and newer styles clash, and people have to think about how to incorporate both into each aspect of their wardrobe. In the end, this results in new dress codes, exactly what we need, dress codes that are appropriate for our times. Finally, I would like to say that I vehemently disagree with you on the matter of details, especially something being handmade. The material my buttons are made out of or my clothes being handmade or not does not affect the look in any tangible way. This is true. However, the details are not for you, or anyone else besides me for that matter. They are there to make me like my clothes more. They are like underwear. No one besides me has any reason to care about them, but them being just right can make me feel so much better.
I strongly disagree with you about the bespoke part. You got a very conventional sized and shaped body. For you, bespoke would only mean having absolute control over styling which MtM as you stated correctly also would enable you to do. But for the vast majority of the folks going the bespoke part, it's about having clothes fit their less-than-ideal bodies. Be it a very large stomach, very square and broad shoulders with a tiny waist, or any other combination that would require an MtM brand to go above and beyond to satisfy the fit requirement.
Indeed; if you have an unusual body shape you're more likely to hit the limits of block patterns made for typical shapes. It's not just about fit; styles that aim to make the wearer look taller and slimmer are bad for someone who already is very tall and slim. On the other hand, people with atypical shapes have particularly good reasons to ignore conventional rules that don't work for us (I've seen style guides that endorse buttoning rules in general but admit that tall men may be better off ignoring them), and the point about dress codes is particularly applicable when you have an unusual body shape because you can't rent a dinner suit for the evening.
The reason I go bespoke is simple|: I don't like modern suits. Skinny trousers, short jackets with hihf and narrow lapels - I just don't wanna wear that!. I better spend money for one suit that will look straight outta 30-s. Good thing I found a rather cheap bespoke tailor.
I agree with you completely . I once saw a man brag about the details of his suit . The buttons were antique. The lining was from an older suit etc. Yet the cut of the suit itself was nothing to boast about.
Oh I wear green and blue all the time it's my favourite combination! I didn't know about half of these rules but thank you for this video anyway, it's good to encourage everyone to use their common sense, and to slowly sharpen their sense of personal style =)
Unfortunately some people in the costuming community are more interested in promoting their own sense of superiority , this is especially prevalent in historical costuming.Thank you for a lovely video.
I'm ok but I would definitely argue about the "95% of what bespoke is" part. This would only be true for people with, let's say, average body type. I'm built like a tank and not in the flattering sense. Most of the made to measure I could get don't fit my mid section, while my legs and arms are too short compared to my torso. People's body shapes have too many quirks and funny features that made to measure simply fails at fitting.
I think you’re bang on with all of these. I started buying bespoke about 20 years ago. I have and love a relatively small collection of three suits and three sport coats. Unfortunately, my weight fluctuates (see how I’m pinning the blame on “the weight” there?), so, along with the high cost, it isn’t practical for me to rely on bespoke entirely. I enjoy my small bespoke collection, but the bulk of what I own is ready-to-wear and some made-to-measure. While we talk about perfect fit as the driving force behind bespoke, for me, at least, it’s the opportunity to be dazzled by what a person can create with paper, chalk, cutting tools, wool, interlining, needle, thread, and a few implements.
I agree with everything, but not with the opinion of using machines for making clothing. Yes, we live in a century, where you can use machines and save a lot of time, money, but making a suit at least 80% by hand, it is about a good feeling, that your suit is created by a person more than a machine, which I really appreciate. I know, that machine made is not necessarily worse quality, but I just want my suit made by hand as much as possibe. Just for the sake of good feeling and old traditon. Nothing else and also want to support human labour, since nowadays big corporations are replacing people for machines and that is not good to me.
I'm a tailor, and I found that my most unpopulare opinion, is that I think the "rules" are stupid. Never buttoning the lower button, matching socks with belts and so on. Honestly just do what you want
I love wool made suits but one of my suits is of cheap polyester material. But because it fits so good and nicely, the fit outweighs the material it's made of. ----If something fits good and correctly and is in stable shape, I think it's good enough.
Have to disagree with your wedding example. Why should anyone dress poorly just to blend in? That's how we got in this mess in the first place. Also, we need people who know how to dress to be an example to others.
As soon as I get my top surgery I'm acquiring a deep forest/emerald green suit made out of something natural. I might have to make it myself but that's what I want dang it.
All I know is that I need to have a proper suit as I have a mix match mess of a suit. Also glad that you posted again as you have given me lots of tips and it helps me understand more about suits
i recommend the gentleman's gazette, really great channel focused more on suit advice for newbies. whereas this channel is more focused on showcases and sewing (kinda)
"Dying of smallpox is traditional!" XD Perfektes Comeback. Das ist wie bei den Lueten die immer sagen "Früher war alles besser!". Nee, früher war Krieech.
I agree with your opinion about the bespoke vs mtm clothes but i still prefer bespoke cause i'm lucky to have a tailor that make everything very cheap)
About mtm vs bespoke: Of course, mtm is cheaper and still 95% like a bespoke suit. But two things to remember: Firstly, buying a bespoke suit is prolly an enjoyable journey and the joy of it will transfer to the suit itself. Secondly, if we all only buy mtm because it is cheaper then the bespoke business will disappear eventually. Never forget that you also pay the know how and craftmanship when you get yourself a bespoke suit.
I'll be real, I've never heard of any negative perceptions or slogans/rules outside the menswear community, where they are only used as content to be disproved.
I always wear green and blue on the weekends, when I'm in professional environments I always wear brown scales and my first suit was lilac. I couldn't be happier.
whenever i hear someone talking about the value of the [overly idealized and romanticized] "hand sewn" i think about the ghost seamstress from 1873 living with me, getting angry every time i grab a needle because she was never able to afford a sewing machine
I suprisingly agreed with every opinion. Speaking as a suit conosour of 3 years. ( i like to imagine im a conosour but i only have 1 year of suit study on channels like vintage bursche, my1928, gentlemans gazette, and more )
"dying of small pox is traditional" 😂😂
Great video as always❤
This got me too 😂
I used to be into historical reenacting, and the attention to detail bit really hit home. Like, folks walk up to you to retie your neckerchief or emphasize a hand-stitched shirt -- which is literally hidden under two other layers. If someone loves that kind of detail because it makes them happy, awesome! When folks get snobby about it (especially in cases of public presentation, when 99% of your audience doesn't know, notice, or care), yeah, that's problem.
I also used to do reenactment and my shoes were from a period about fifty years after the era I was doing. Did I care? No. Did anyone notice? Doubtful. Did they look right? Pretty much, yes - and that's what mattered to me!
I think the difficult thing about always dressing for the dress code is that you don't get to wear the garments you love 99% of the time. If we were dressing according to the spoken or unspoken dress code, we'd be in jeans and T-shirts all day, every day, save for a couple days of the year. I enjoy wearing white tie, so I always break it out for the opera and ballet. I enjoy wearing a suit, so I place it as my everyday style. However, when it comes to weddings and funerals, I agree that you need to have some consideration for the hosts. As a rule of thumb, I would consider whether a reasonable, sane person would be offended by me outdressing them at an event. There are going to be one or two events like that; otherwise, live and let live.
Well said. i totally agree
Also as to weddings: Just ask the bride - causes things like morning suit ensembles in a whole lot of navy-two-piece LDS members😂.
Suits, oh I love wearing suits... I wear them to work every day... and I'm a bespoke shoemaker😅.
I'd say always dress following *your* preferences - the jeans-and-t-shirt crowd sure does it - but dress accordingly with the preferences of the host if invited *if* there are specifics.
Also: again, capital meeting you here!😉.
Best regards
Raoul G. Kunz
Most of the time there is no dress code. In an office, unless otherwise told, you can wear a suit. And you can wear white tie to the opera, but you would look out of place (sadly).
You can change a few notch from the average, but not much. A fine balance, as was explained in the video. I wear a jacket, shirt, tie every day to the office (university), I'm nearly alone with that. But I would not change to black tie for a later lecture just because it is after 6pm. That would be too much.
And I go to the gym in swetpants, wear heavy-duty trousers and trainers to a hike in the woods, etc.
@@adamkun5524 Changing into black tie for an evening lecture would be iconic though, if you came to my uni in black tie I would think you were very cool.
@@adamkun5524 they don’t mean for you to wear black tie after 6 they mean darker suits. Lighter suits=afternoon dark= evening
I mainly use a wheelchair outside of the house, and I’ve been told that I either NEED to ditch the jacket or never button it because “you never button your jacket when sitting”, this was an able bodied person giving me advice. An open jacket in a wheelchair is a major pain in the ass.
Yeah, don't listen to that guy. He likely didn't mean to be mean, he just doesn't know how uneasy it is in a wheel chair with an open jacket. Special situations deserve special rules.
@@lukastux3024 definitely no intention to be mean but this particular individual also runs a style channel and has a video and article on the topic in addition to my personal interaction. The article states that we should also never wear hats because you don’t wear a hat when seated, and that we should carry a cane/walking stick even if our disability prevents us from using said stick so that the wheelchair looks more like a choice. Now I don’t know if it was the owner or one of their staff who wrote the article but either way not a good look.
Disabled people are the ones who best know how to manage life with our conditions, whatever they may be! An ignorant comment is one thing but making a video telling a disabled group what to do when you evidently haven’t even consulted with them is on another level… I don’t use a wheelchair and my disabilities aren’t usually visible but even I’ve had trouble from people about my clothes. So while I can’t truly understand I empathise with you!
I'm pretty sure men in the past did not take their hats off when sitting on a bench on the park. That sitting rule is obviously about getting settled indoors!
As a sewist I am only concerned about details on my selfmade stuff because it's fun to take my time with them but other than that I don't care :D Love your approach to fashion!
I generally agree with you, especially the point about dress-codes (I would personally summarise it as "dress for what the dress code is, not what you feel it ought to be") and details. A lot of the "advise" you mention, to me, often comes from the right place, but the desire to make advise snippy, memorable and rhyme often strips the intention down to such a simple concept that it actually becomes somewhat useless. "No brown in town", for example: From a UK point of view, a more accurate and useful rendering of the rule probably ought to be "do not wear countrywear in urban areas with a notable financial sector or strong industrial heritage" - a brown suit in a smart worsted solid or pinstripe would be fine in Manchester, and tweed is perfectly acceptable in cities such as Oxford or Canterbury.
I'd also add that the telling a stranger unsolicited that they are committing a fashion faux pas is itself an egregious breach of fashion etiquette.
On the flip side, some other pieces of advice are probably very useful to those just starting out into the world of menswear, not so much to vintage enthusiasts and collectors - "do not fasten the bottom button of a single breasted suit jacket" is perhaps bad advise for certain vintage pieces, but excellent advice for someone buying a brand new suit; similarly I would still advise ones first suit be dark blue or dark grey, as it is likely that it will, if only for a time, be their only suit and thus be needed to be suitable a number of different occasions - dark blue and grey being the only colours that work for weddings, funerals, job interviews, business wear, and informal evening events. But I certainly wouldn't say ones first vintage suit, or vintage inspired suit, needs to be those colours (unless it is intended to be ones only suit). The ones relating to colour combinations, whilst often too broad and failing to factor in elements such as shade and tone, can be useful when one considers the prevalence of colour blindness in men. Feel free to break them, but be pretty sure you know it works before hand.
In terms of correcting someone's style details being a breach of etiquette, I totally agree. The same goes for other forms of correction. Good grammar is designed to be clear and educated; i.e., it's designed to help you coexist with society. Correcting others' grammar is the exact opposite of this point. The purpose of standard English is not to be a set of rules to beat others over the head with. (With that said, it's inevitable to find outselves silently cringing at our personal pet peeves - the silent bit is the important one.)
The same goes for etiquette. Even in Victorian etiquette books, it is made clear that if there's a "cardinal sin" of etiquette, it's correcting others' manners in public.
This is what many miss the point of; style rules, grammar rules, and etiquette are all designed to help us look, sound, and act our best. They are not a set of draconian rules designed to allow us to demonstrate our "intellectual superiority."
Details are only important to the WEARER, not to others. If you want specific details FOR YOUR OWN ENJOYMENT, get them. But nobody else will notice.
Aww, I'm sad that these are considered unpopular opinions, they all focus around inclusion and accessibility. Doesn't sound controversial to me. 💚
I'd be thrilled if we could get back to men and women to just being well groomed and stylishly dressed regardless of the occasion - day casual, work, dating, weddings, funerals, parties, Christmas, etc. And ban fast fashion and baseball caps. Quality over quantity, but pieces that don't break the bank. It really is possible.
"Because it's more traditional? Dying of smallpox is traditional." is going to be one of my stronger clapbacks for the foreseeable future 🤭🤭
Great video Nikolas! I used to not dress for the dress code in a lot of occasions such as casual summer family get togethers when everyone is wearing very casual clothes while I was wearing a vintage suit. This was a mistake when I started my classic menswear journey. I learned to adapt to the occasion and environment I was in, since I used to live in Norfolk, Va. But now that I’m back in Michigan, I still dress vintage, but it’s more casual clothes such as plaid cotton shirts and jeans/khaki pants from the 1950s. A lot that was inspired from my great grandfathers in the 1950s.
Fair play to you, friend, but I'm going to keep wearing my suits to informal get-togethers. Maybe not for barbecues or picnics, but my passion for style triumphs such things! Besides, if someone I know is snobby enough to look down on me for dressing how I enjoy, I don't want to be around them, anyway.
I once had a cashier in a second hand store telling me I shouldn't button the last button on my blazer. I just looked him dead in the eyes and said "okay" in a couldn't care less tone.
One of the best things about your channel is that you take the time to help not just with style and options, but to discourage the snobbery that is likely to pop up.
Good for you, great work. Please keep doing what you do.
Agree. Although, I'm the ONLY one I know who's very demanding of the details because I make my own handcrafted bespoke suits and I love the ritual and the result but I never ask anyone else to want the same standards for their suits. It's my own accomplishment and artform and I live wearing my own handiwork but nobody else needs to feel the same about theirs because it's just a garment. Thanks for the perspective.
So, when do we get the "Menswear Quotes" calendar? :D
Yes!
I had heard the old saw as "Red and Green should never be seen [together]" rather than blue, I don't know why as there are some fine fabrics that mix either or all of these colours. I think that somebody hated green, and loved rhyming couplets, so it stuck.
For my part, I insist on hand-finishing everything because I have SO much better control over what I'm doing, and because I like the aesthetics of the results, and also genuinely enjoy the act of hand-sewing vastly more than that of machine-sewing. Given my druthers, I'd hand-sew everything but running stitches. That being said, holding anybody else to that would just be silly.
I do prefer the aesthetics of hand finishing things, myself, like buttonholes, or preventing visible stitching (like top-stitching, which can often look cheap and lazy, imo--depending on what it is, of course).
Zum einen, wann kommt der Kalender mit all den unnützen Regeln und Sprüchen, und zweitens : schön dass Du wieder da bist.
Great video,good to have you back.I work in the City of London,the most conservative,rule strict environment in the business world and I wear brown shoes from my navy suits, colourful pocket squares etc...and guess what? As long as you dressed in clean clothes nobody will comment about what you wear.Keep up the good work
Please, use spaces after commas and periods. This is impossible to read.
navy plus brown is 🔥
I'm glad someone finally made this video. I think with how the suit is dying in the office, we're entering a new era where suits can be free and not bound by societal rules.
If you wore 17th century clothing in the 17th century you would no doubt have to follow all sorts of rules just like the ones we have today... but if you wear 17th century clothing today, you don't have to abide by any of them, you can make it your own!
The only rules that should exist are ones that are good aesthetic principles. Throw out all the brown in town nonsense, it's an antiquated bit of elitist nonsense.
We do indeed live in a more democratic era of style! That's where I sort of disagree with Nikolas a bit. There are people like Zac Pinsent who wear 1700s tailcoats and bicorns every day and rock it. I don't think people who are really passionate about vintage menswear should be forced to fit in all the time just for conformity's sake. I believe that conformity should only exist when absolutely necessary, like in the military boot camp. I even feel iffy on weddings; although, I must admit, that's still a place where conformity is somewhat expected, and hence it might be offensive not to budge a bit. I've found that there's no real way to rationalize dress codes - if everyone just wore what they wanted all the time, then what's the harm? I think it more has to do with people being insecure about standing out and wanting to force that on everyone else. Or maybe it's just some caveman instinct. I don't know. Either way, I want to live to see the day where someone in sweatpants can be strolling next to someone in a frock coat, and neither of them seem odd.
Fantastic video. I get your point of view. I think that sometimes details are cool but I agree that this is not something that is so much important. Maybe your unpopular opinions are not such unpopular 😅
When I moved to New York 20 years ago, professional men wore navy suits and everyone in the arts wore black head to toe. Nowadays tech guys wear black T-shirts, hedge fund bros have replaced jacket and tie with Patagonia vests, and everyone in the arts wears athleisure. It doesn’t take much effort to be way ahead of the crowd.
Brava!
I enjoy handsewing, but the fact is, very few people will notice, and even those who do, probably won't care. So yeah, the details are for me, not for the look.
I only like the tiny detail because they bring tiny joy. Sometimes that's nice. 🤷🏼♀️
Yay! A new Vintagebursche video! 😊
Good to have you back sir
Great to see Eg-Gü making a comeback! I wasn't aware of that, thank you!
For me menswear rules are more like suggestion for begginer, if you don't really know what you are doing it Can be reassuring to have rule to fall back to
I never understood why the allied blue and green were a fault of taste when it is one of the foundations of the beauty of nature
My first bespoke was meh, I used it for my wedding and it worked but I wasn't happy. I rushed and went for a person local to home. Instead my second (I love the craft I can't help it) I went for the man and skill, I am so much happier.
Most of my other suits are RTW, I am now using a M2M service now as I can't afford a full waldrobe of bespoke.
Also the green and blue can work if you don't over do it.
Nice vid. It's good to hear pretentious gitishness being called out. A good chunk of my wardrobe is home made or tailored but that's cause I'm 5 foot tall. Not pretentious 😂
While I do find myself mostly wearing T-shirts and shorts or pants, any chance I get I wear my suit. I only have one suit at the moment: a double-breasted, medium-grey suit. I love it to pieces and I always feel so elegant when I wear it. I don't have many events I can wear it to, but I found times to wear it despite maybe looking overdressed. For example, providing sign language interpreting over video conferencing for a college class. I also wore my suit out to lunch once for Easter and I wore it at my family's Christmas eve gathering even though most people were dressed casually.
What a pity, we should not dress well unless we want to be labelled as snobs. I'm a snob then.
I don't think that's what Nikolas meant, but I can agree with the idea that if wearing white tie to the opera makes me a snob, then a snob I am.
You’re awesome! Always love your sense of humor, and the videos have great information!
I agree with you. I'm a historical sewist. One of my favorite things is buying vintage mens suits to use as raw material. I have bought many great off the rack suits. I have also bought what I suspect were bespoke suits that were just kind of meh. It depends on the skill of the tailor. Bragging about buying a bespoke suit from a tailor that is only mediocre is ridiculous. Better to buy high quality OTR instead and then save up for a better skilled tailor.
i am in america and i will only use Gutermann thread, wish you had Gutermann as your sponsor, or maybe you could give us a tour of their factory, i like to make bespoke items for people, they could purchase ready to wear and most people would not know the difference... but I can tell the difference... from across the room... some people enjoy baking, or painting, or golf... i enjoy silk thread and hand sewn button holes.... and Vintageburshe 😘
Very informative approach Niklas!
Truly brilliant.
Bravo!!!!! 🍷 Here’s to looking smashing, but all in fun! Keep enjoying your terrific style!! 6:52
Dress codes are to guide the less skilled and also reign in narcissism. Without any dress codes people are free to honestly signal with their choices, which could be seen as good, but the drawback is since culture is contagious, that is often how bad trends are spread
I agree and disagree with you, so I'll share my thoughts on the matter.
Yes, style rules can and should be broken, I break them often. They are foundations on which a good outfit can be built, but only foundations are boring.
I also agree with you on the matter of bespoke clothing. I own some bespoke shirts, and the difference between them and my made to measure shirts is practically nonexistent. Bespoke Tailoring is something I very much enjoy, but for well over 99% of situations, it is not needed.
While agree with your reasoning behind your point on dress codes, being that one should dress in a manner that is appropriate to the people, especially the host, at any given function. However, while you say this is a reason to leave dress codes behind, I would say you perfectly describe how a dress code comes to be. Older and newer styles clash, and people have to think about how to incorporate both into each aspect of their wardrobe. In the end, this results in new dress codes, exactly what we need, dress codes that are appropriate for our times.
Finally, I would like to say that I vehemently disagree with you on the matter of details, especially something being handmade. The material my buttons are made out of or my clothes being handmade or not does not affect the look in any tangible way. This is true. However, the details are not for you, or anyone else besides me for that matter. They are there to make me like my clothes more. They are like underwear. No one besides me has any reason to care about them, but them being just right can make me feel so much better.
Endlich neues Video von dir 🎉
I have to say, this is a great video. I think you made it just perfect 🏛️
And please keep up your amazing work on RUclips 🧑💼
This is refreshing! I have a couple of good bespoke pieces but today I'd take vintage ready to wear any day.
I wish I could wear classic menswear. But this is some great advice. I love your videos.
I strongly disagree with you about the bespoke part. You got a very conventional sized and shaped body. For you, bespoke would only mean having absolute control over styling which MtM as you stated correctly also would enable you to do. But for the vast majority of the folks going the bespoke part, it's about having clothes fit their less-than-ideal bodies. Be it a very large stomach, very square and broad shoulders with a tiny waist, or any other combination that would require an MtM brand to go above and beyond to satisfy the fit requirement.
Indeed; if you have an unusual body shape you're more likely to hit the limits of block patterns made for typical shapes. It's not just about fit; styles that aim to make the wearer look taller and slimmer are bad for someone who already is very tall and slim. On the other hand, people with atypical shapes have particularly good reasons to ignore conventional rules that don't work for us (I've seen style guides that endorse buttoning rules in general but admit that tall men may be better off ignoring them), and the point about dress codes is particularly applicable when you have an unusual body shape because you can't rent a dinner suit for the evening.
The reason I go bespoke is simple|: I don't like modern suits. Skinny trousers, short jackets with hihf and narrow lapels - I just don't wanna wear that!. I better spend money for one suit that will look straight outta 30-s. Good thing I found a rather cheap bespoke tailor.
I agree with you completely . I once saw a man brag about the details of his suit . The buttons were antique. The lining was from an older suit etc. Yet the cut of the suit itself was nothing to boast about.
Thank You for another entertaining video :)
Oh I wear green and blue all the time it's my favourite combination! I didn't know about half of these rules but thank you for this video anyway, it's good to encourage everyone to use their common sense, and to slowly sharpen their sense of personal style =)
Unfortunately some people in the costuming community are more interested in promoting their own sense of superiority , this is especially prevalent in historical costuming.Thank you for a lovely video.
I'm ok but I would definitely argue about the "95% of what bespoke is" part. This would only be true for people with, let's say, average body type. I'm built like a tank and not in the flattering sense. Most of the made to measure I could get don't fit my mid section, while my legs and arms are too short compared to my torso. People's body shapes have too many quirks and funny features that made to measure simply fails at fitting.
I think you’re bang on with all of these. I started buying bespoke about 20 years ago. I have and love a relatively small collection of three suits and three sport coats. Unfortunately, my weight fluctuates (see how I’m pinning the blame on “the weight” there?), so, along with the high cost, it isn’t practical for me to rely on bespoke entirely. I enjoy my small bespoke collection, but the bulk of what I own is ready-to-wear and some made-to-measure. While we talk about perfect fit as the driving force behind bespoke, for me, at least, it’s the opportunity to be dazzled by what a person can create with paper, chalk, cutting tools, wool, interlining, needle, thread, and a few implements.
I agree with everything, but not with the opinion of using machines for making clothing. Yes, we live in a century, where you can use machines and save a lot of time, money, but making a suit at least 80% by hand, it is about a good feeling, that your suit is created by a person more than a machine, which I really appreciate. I know, that machine made is not necessarily worse quality, but I just want my suit made by hand as much as possibe. Just for the sake of good feeling and old traditon. Nothing else and also want to support human labour, since nowadays big corporations are replacing people for machines and that is not good to me.
How many years and your intro still gives me goosebumps and makes me tear up with the beauty.
I'm a tailor, and I found that my most unpopulare opinion, is that I think the "rules" are stupid. Never buttoning the lower button, matching socks with belts and so on. Honestly just do what you want
Well said. Without rulebreakers we'd still be wearing doublet and hose.
You mean revolutionaries who chopped off heads of everyone wearing those and paraded their severed heads through the streets?
I've heard of the no brown after 6 concept. I've always broken that rule and everything just seems fine. Brown after 6 stands out in the dark. LOL
I love wool made suits but one of my suits is of cheap polyester material. But because it fits so good and nicely, the fit outweighs the material it's made of. ----If something fits good and correctly and is in stable shape, I think it's good enough.
4:13 I Think A reason of buying a bespoke suit would just be to own a piece of handmade and support and support those
Have to disagree with your wedding example. Why should anyone dress poorly just to blend in? That's how we got in this mess in the first place. Also, we need people who know how to dress to be an example to others.
You sound German, I might be wrong but I’ve been learning German for about two weeks, I love the show Babylon Berlin and I love the clothes they wear❤
As soon as I get my top surgery I'm acquiring a deep forest/emerald green suit made out of something natural. I might have to make it myself but that's what I want dang it.
I really like your opinion!🎉😊 I'm a bespoke tailor my self, be true to your self!
The ful line is: blue and green should not be seen, except with a colour in between. (To be clear, I am not endorsing that view.)
All I know is that I need to have a proper suit as I have a mix match mess of a suit.
Also glad that you posted again as you have given me lots of tips and it helps me understand more about suits
i recommend the gentleman's gazette, really great channel focused more on suit advice for newbies. whereas this channel is more focused on showcases and sewing (kinda)
@@Oaksley I also watch gentleman’s gazette
@@ABizarreShowcase good to know
Thank you for mentioning that we have sewing machines for a reason. I love mine. In fact I love them so much I have like 5.
I personally dont use my machine, but that's only because, it keeps getting clogged.
You are absolutely delightful!!! And perfectly smart 😊
Perhaps it is better to say minimum standards are required.
I recently tried on an OTR jacket that looked better on me than any MTM or bespoke garments I ever got.
We love you, Nikolas! Whether you care or not. 😘
I totally agree with every word.
Your design and and style of presents is beyond
Blue and green should not be seen…tell that a peacock…looks beautiful 😻
5:29 Gives this man a glas of champagne! So true!
Be aware of "the rules" but don't be afraid to break them!
Covering of the genitals is a common dress rule.
Man i like those details but you have a point that few people notice them
"Dying of smallpox is traditional!" XD Perfektes Comeback. Das ist wie bei den Lueten die immer sagen "Früher war alles besser!". Nee, früher war Krieech.
Thanks god someone said that about the details!
Very refreshing view on things.
💥💪👍
4:11 do you call yourself crazy here? :D
One of my most favourite ties is blue and green stripes and I wear it with a blue suit.
Thanks for another excellent video
I agree with your opinion about the bespoke vs mtm clothes but i still prefer bespoke cause i'm lucky to have a tailor that make everything very cheap)
Good Evening, I do not know how to send you a photo. I have an offering.
Many Thanks, Brent O’Conner
About mtm vs bespoke: Of course, mtm is cheaper and still 95% like a bespoke suit. But two things to remember: Firstly, buying a bespoke suit is prolly an enjoyable journey and the joy of it will transfer to the suit itself. Secondly, if we all only buy mtm because it is cheaper then the bespoke business will disappear eventually. Never forget that you also pay the know how and craftmanship when you get yourself a bespoke suit.
Popular with me!
Well done good soul!
God bless.
Congrats on the sponsor!!!
Absolutely well said.
I'll be real, I've never heard of any negative perceptions or slogans/rules outside the menswear community, where they are only used as content to be disproved.
I had that waiscoat button thing happen do myself.
I endorse this message.
Gut gesprochen - vollste Zustimmung.
Bravo 🚀🚀🚀
I always wear green and blue on the weekends, when I'm in professional environments I always wear brown scales and my first suit was lilac. I couldn't be happier.
whenever i hear someone talking about the value of the [overly idealized and romanticized] "hand sewn" i think about the ghost seamstress from 1873 living with me, getting angry every time i grab a needle because she was never able to afford a sewing machine
I suprisingly agreed with every opinion. Speaking as a suit conosour of 3 years.
( i like to imagine im a conosour but i only have 1 year of suit study on channels like vintage bursche, my1928, gentlemans gazette, and more )
connoisseur*
@@PattMyCat I’ll just pull the English-is-a-second-language-to-me card for this one.
@@Unnamed2076 haha, technically it's French!
By the way, glad to have you back. It has been 2 months since your last video.
dying of smallpox! LOL I love your videos and would really love to see you making more menswear.
So happy to see a new video! Learning new things about classic menswear and doing it with snark? Perfection, as always.